# How to write stories

Even when it's nonfiction or an email, all written works travel through a [story](stories.md) arc with a beginning, middle, and end:

- The first sentence will imply one overarching mystery, which is what the story will answer.
- To be interesting from the first sentence, the reader needs at least a few of the following:
  - Freshness
  - Novelty
  - A paradox
  - [Humor](humor.md)
  - Surprise
  - An unusual idea
  - An interesting fact
  - A question
- All the future sentences and paragraphs are expanding on that first sentence, wrapping up with the final sentence.
- The events of the story are based on how the character (or reader) experiences a [conflict](people-5_conflicts.md), then [changes](people-changes.md) by making [meaningful](meaning.md) [decisions](people-decisions.md).

Add clues to imply what will happen before it does (foreshadowing):

- Provide details that imply something the reader can potentially figure out before you reveal it.
- When transitioning to the next chapter or major idea, direct attention to a simple mystery (e.g., "And then I saw someone standing where they shouldn't", "But, the secret to success isn't as simple as what I've implied").

## Nonfiction: story-building

Focus less on what the thing is and more on how the subject will help people:

- A nonfiction work is simply a story where the *reader* is the main character.

You're writing about 1 thing and its related concepts, so don't use an outline:

- Organizing a long article is daunting, and an outline might be a procrastination tool.
  - Use an outline to organize your idea, but the idea itself should be clear enough in your mind that you can start writing and edit the draft later.
  - Structuring an outline implies it's the *only* way to structure it, so throw the outline out once you've written your first draft.
- Further, [modern word processors](technology.md) mean you can rearrange the content all you want, so it's easier to dive in than ever before in history.

Plain speech is always valuable, but even more when you're speaking about abstract concepts:

- If a general idea doesn't evoke a [feeling](mind-feelings.md), add an example.
  - Whittle down the broad concept until you have so much detail that the experience is a vivid image in your mind.
- If it may illustrate a concept, add an amusing related anecdote if it comes to mind.
  - You can always take it out in a future edit.

Always write in the first-person or second-person:

- People need something concrete to attach their experiences to.
- e.g., "One must write elegantly" is harder to process than "You must write elegantly" or "I must write elegantly".

If they're from reputable sources, a few well-placed [statistics](math-stat.md) can establish credibility.

Be *very* precise about quotes, since you could be [sued for defamation](legal-safety.md).

If you're writing a story about yourself, treat it as a work of fiction with severe constraints:

- Your perception of the past is a set of faded [memories](mind-memory.md), so you won't be able to portray details accurately.
- Not all documentary writing has the same focus.
  - A memoir is capturing specific experiences, but not necessarily a life's work.
  - A biography is tracking the course of someone's life, and an autobiography is you doing it to yourself.
- As long as you've captured the spirit of the events, it's not a lie.
- Even though you experienced something, it's probably less exciting in retelling it.
  - What you're writing should be legitimately interesting.
  - If you're more concerned with your [legacy](legacy.md) than adding value to the reader, don't expect many people to read it.

If you're trying to draw attention and details than how the story forms, use the journalists' Inverted Pyramid:

1. Start with the most newsworthy information: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
2. Give important reinforcing details
3. Provide other general and background information

If your content is highly technical, demarcate and sequence your concepts as lists:

1. Most information can be distilled into lists, and it orders the information more articulately.
2. By using lists, you can communicate *lots* of information without overwhelming the reader.
3. The secret to lists is that they permit the reader to skip them quickly if they already understand the concept.

To persuade, write practical "what if...?" questions:

1. **What Is**, which is either the present reality or a fictional analogy of it.
2. **What Should Be**, with its difference contrasted to **What Is** as far as possible.
3. Repeat **What Is** and **What Should Be**, building tension by swinging between both progressively faster.
   - This should build emphasis through a predictable theme.
4. One more **What Is**, then a **New Bliss**.
   - **New Bliss** is the most accurate message of the story, or **What Should Be**.
   - A **New Bliss** with enough emotional energy will often change a reader's life.
   - The best **New Bliss** pulls from the audience's previous memories and inspirational knowledge.

## Fiction: character-building

Every worthwhile fiction story requires building the character first:

- A good character is [imagining](imagination.md) a person you know, moving some details around, then placing them in a unique situation and watching them make [decisions](people-decisions.md).
- To make the character at all relatable, give at *least* a few important details for the reader to latch onto.
  - Frame the character's experiences and challenges as the *audience* sees them, not you as the author.

If you want memorable characters, thoroughly profile them:

- Complete a questionnaire for every main character, and as many secondary characters as you want.
- Fill in as much information as possible, including things that probably don't matter to the story.
  - You're trying to get to know this character until you can follow them around and watch what they do.
  - Most of those details *will* be boring, and you won't write about them, but they're necessary for you to intimately know a character and, as a result, enforce a story's internal consistency.

Overarching character information:

- Personal details - first name, last name, age
- Write down a summary of the plot in a few sentences.

Describe how your character makes you feel:

- Your [feelings](mind-feelings.md) for your character, irrespective of what they are, must be strong.
- Otherwise, keep building out the character or build a new character altogether.
- Very specifically clarify your feelings about them:
  - Admiration?
  - Love?
  - Hate?
  - Dislike?
  - Like?
  - Pity?
  - Envy?

Write out their background story in a few sentences:

- What is their role in your story?
- What are their goals?
- What are they motivated by?
- What's their conflict?
- How will the conflict stop them from reaching their goal?
- What will they do to overcome the conflict?
- How will those problems get worse?
- What will they do to overcome those problems?
- How will they resolve the conflict?
- How will their background influence how they behave in the story?
- What's their relationship with other characters, if any, in the story?

Physical description:

- Height, eye color
- Hair color, hairstyle, hair length
- Complexion, shape of face
- Body type, weight
- How does their expression change when:
  - With a loved one?
  - With someone they dislike?
  - With their boss?
  - With a colleague?

Personality:

- What's their overall [personality](personality.md)? (e.g., shy, outgoing, insecure, dominant, etc.)?
- Any distinguishing traits?
- Any mental scars like complexes or neuroses?
- What are their ambitions?
- How is their sense of humor?
- What are they afraid of, anxious about, and phobic over?
- How does their personality change when they're experiencing different emotions?
- How do they act when they feel confident? How about inadequate?

Body language:

- What gestures do they use when they talk or think?
- How do they walk? With confidence? Do they slouch or stride?
- What mannerisms do they have? (e.g., folding arms, flicking hair, etc.)
- How do they speak? (e.g., clearly, mumble, confidently, drawl, etc.)
- What is their voice like (e.g., rich, loud, soft, etc.)
- What choice of vocabulary do they use? (e.g., casual, formal, illiterate, etc.)

Private thoughts:

- Do they have any secrets they've never told anyone?
- What are their prejudices?
- What is their dominant motive?
- What do they value most?
- What do they desire most?
- Do they have any vices or virtues?

Relationships:

- How do they treat those around them? (e.g, children, superiors, etc.)
- Any friends?
- Any enemies?
- Any acquaintances?
- Have they been engaged or married before?
- Any children?
- Are there any people they avoid?
- What is their attitude to the opposite sex? The same sex?

Likes/Dislikes:

- Favorite food, color, music, etc.
- Taste in clothing?
- Do they severely like or dislike anything in particular?

Lifestyle:

- Where do they live? (e.g., country, city)
- What is their dwelling? (e.g., house, apartment, etc.)
- Do they like where they live? Why?
- Does where they live reflect what kind of person they are?
- Do they have a favorite room, piece of furniture, household object, etc.?
- Do they have a car, and what type? Does it reflect who they are?
- Do they have any hobbies?
- What are their personal habits? (e.g., neat, sloppy, etc.)

Experiences:

- Parents' names, parents' occupations
- What was their relationship with their parents?
- Any siblings? What were those relationship(s) like?
- What kind of childhood did they have?
- How were their adolescent years?
- What kind of schooling did they undergo? (e.g., private, public, homeschool)
- Has their education shaped who they are?
- What was their highest grade achieved in school?

Citizenship/Ethnicity:

- What country do they currently live in?
- If they live in a different country than where they were born, why do they live there?
- Do they have any cultural traditions? Any traditions they've given up?

Current position in life:

- What was their most meaningful experience?
- Have they had any disappointments?
- What is their goal in life?
- What is their attitude about life?

Employment:

- What kind of job do they currently have?
- What kinds of jobs have they had previously?
- Are they currently content with their employment situation?
- If not, what's their dream job?

If you want a complex character, evoke different feelings and responses toward each of their layers of self-identity:

- Each person has layers of self-identity, and a character is relatable when they have multiple [self-deceptions](hardship-worthlessness.md).
- This aspect alone requires people with significant life experience, but without too much [trauma](hardship-ptsd.md) haunting them.
  - You must be tremendously [aware](awareness.md) to understand those layers.
  - You must expose your character to severe [hardship](hardship.md) to show the world who they really are.
- Use the story to expose and strip away the false layers, one by one, to bring out the true personality of that character.

## Fiction: story-building

Understanding [how stories work](stories.md) is absolutely vital to building one.

People always begin reading with at least some expectations:

- There are 3 burning questions readers want to know as soon as possible:
  1. Who's the main character (protagonist)?
     - That character is the center of the story, so introduce that character as soon as possible (preferably in the first paragraph).
  2. What's happening here?
     - They're trying to figure out where things are relative to the events in the world you're building.
  3. What's at stake?
     - They want to know why they should care what happens.
     - It's *always* a conflict within the protagonist.
- Expert writers can pile the answers to all 3 questions into the first *sentence* of the story.
- A story will start straying without all the critical information:
  1. The protagonist is clear, but doesn't appear to have a goal.
  2. The protagonist's goal is clear, but it's not clear how it's forcing them to have [inner conflicts](conflicts-inner.md).
  3. The protagonist's [decisions](people-decisions.md) have no connection to what happens.

Unless you plan to write something *really* long and drawn-out, don't use a prologue.

Every story revolves around a character's conflict:

- Only a few major types of conflicts arise in good stories:
  - The protagonist's [belief](values.md) vs. [actual truth](reality.md)
  - The protagonist's desire vs. what the protagonist has
  - The protagonist's desire vs. others' expectations
  - The protagonist vs. themselves
  - The protagonist's [inner goal](purpose.md) vs. the protagonist's [external goal](results.md)
  - The protagonist's [fear](mind-feelings-fear.md) vs. the protagonist's goal (internal, external, or both)
  - The protagonist vs. the antagonist
  - The antagonist vs. mercy (or the [appearance](image-distortion.md) of it)
- The plot should force the protagonist to directly face almost everything they've spent their entire lives avoiding.
  - This doesn't mean it has to be huge, since we tend to hate small [conflicts](people-5_conflicts.md) more than large ones.
- Most of the plot should involve the character trying to circle the problem and, as a consequence, worsening it.

Many story elements give the reader promises and expectations:

- A genre promises the audience what sort of time, place, actions, and types of characters they'll see.
- Themes promise you'll deliver a message through that theme by the end.
- The main character's natural attributes give them both weaknesses and strengths, which imply what the story involves and how the character will likely change.
- Drawing attention to any details implies they'll be important later.
- While you *can* surprise the reader, never break the promise of giving *something* to them.

When building the story, start where you want the story to end, then work backward:

- The surprise ending should *not* surprise you as you write it.
- The only way to make a surprise ending that doesn't irritate the reader is through withholding specific facts earlier in the story.

Use your personal experience, especially about [work you've performed](jobs-1_why.md).

Start the moment the action is about to start:

- You can start earlier, but it'll bore the reader.
- Starting *in* the action may be exciting, but it's risky because you'll often confuse the reader.
- Use an establishing experience to rapidly develop the character and the world all at once (e.g., saving a cat, attacking an armed robber).

Use the Snowflake Method to flesh out story details:

- Write out an idea, then keep expanding that idea until it eventually grows to the size you want.
- Even for short stories, the Snowflake Method still works by *not* expanding as much.

A. Write one sentence that summarizes the story:

- It may seem excessive, but spend about an hour making this sentence.
- Up to 15 words.
- Avoid character names.
- Write what the character wishes to lose or gain.
  - If it's a love story, ask what would stop the two characters.

B. Expand the sentence to a paragraph:

- It will take another hour to expand the one-sentence idea into a paragraph.
- It should describe the story setup, 3 major disasters, and an ending.
  - Unlikely events are great (and often entertaining) for bad things to happen, but unlikely events shouldn't drive opportunities.
- The 3 disasters will correspond to Act 1's End, Act 2's Middle, and Act 2's End.
- The protagonist's 2nd and 3rd disasters should be their attempt to "fix" things.
- The back-cover copy will summarize the first 1/4 of the story, but this paragraph will summarize the *whole* story.

C. Write a one-page summary sheet for each character:

- This will take another hour.
- Include overall details:
  - Name
  - A one-sentence summary of their storyline
  - Their motivation (what they abstractly want)
  - Their conflict (what's preventing them from reaching their goal)
  - Their epiphany (what they will learn and how they will change)
- Add a one-paragraph expanded summary of their storyline.
  - You will likely need to revise your one-sentence summary in light of your character's development.

    All you have to do is make things "good enough", not perfect, and then revise later as needed.

D. Expand each sentence of the summary paragraph into a full paragraph:

- Take as long as you need.
- This will become a one-page skeleton of a novel.
- Every paragraph except the last should end in a disaster.
- The last paragraph should say how the book ends.

E. Write a one-page description of each major character:

- Take a day or two to flesh out each character, and consult the above character questionnaire.
- It should tell the story from each character's perspective.
- As you discover necessary changes, make revisions as needed to previous steps.

F. Expand the one-page synopsis of the novel to a four-page summary:

- It should take about a week to expand it.
- Expand each paragraph into a full page.

G. Expand character descriptions into full character charts:

- These charts should detail *everything* about the character (birthdate, description, history, motivation, goal, etc.)
- Revise previous steps as needed.

H. List all the scenes:

- There could be over 100, so use a spreadsheet to keep yourself [organized](organization.md).
- For every scene, ask what values, if any, any characters have changed.
  - If nothing has changed, throw out that scene or merge the world-building into another scene.
- Ask why that scene is there, and if you can't answer, you've been building something that may drag down the story's pace.
- Pay close attention to the first and last scenes, since they're the most important to the audience.
  - The last scene must leave people thinking and pondering on it, and it frames and affects the rest of the story.

I. Finally, type out the story's first draft:

- Even when you're several drafts in, and it's still a mess, you can keep [reworking it until you get it right](success-5_persevering.md).
- You will probably work through 10-15 drafts by the time you're done.

As you go, add details to the world you're crafting:

- Only include details that make your world memorable and merge neatly into the story.
  - Sensory details will bog down the pace of the story, and side discussions must be entertaining or contribute directly to the story.
- If you *really* want to elaborate more details about the world and don't like removing it because it still feels necessary (e.g., fantasy, science fiction), organize it into a separate body of work that may become a reference book later.

End the story abruptly:

- It's tempting to stay to discuss everything in an epilogue or sentimentally wind down of the rest of the story, but you're diluting the message.
- Give as few details about the end as possible that show the story is over, and let the reader's imagination run with the rest.

## Dialogue and action

Every phrase or line of dialogue must either change behavior or set up conditions for a change in the story:

- Only communicate body language and dialogue the reader *doesn't* know.
- Most nouns and verbs have built-in adjectives and adverbs, so don't slow the pace with redundant information.
  - e.g., "He smiled pleasantly" is boring, but "He smiled coldly" adds complexity.
  - e.g., "The strong welder" is predictable, but not "The joyful welder".
- Evoke feelings, but don't tell the reader how they should feel.
  - Readers automatically slip into the protagonist's frame of reference and see the world through their perception.
- You shift "perspective" each time another character speaks or you make an explanation, and you should do this frequently to keep the story at an interesting pace.

Use outer behavior to demonstrate the character's [conflicts](conflicts-inner.md), then move to their thoughts for more private desires:

- Use active verbs that explicitly clarify *how* someone did something, not just that they did it.

Either use "said" plainly, cut it out and use quotes as paragraphs by themselves, or use one of the *many* alternatives:

- Accepted, Accused, Acknowledged, Addressed, Admitted, Advertised, Advised, Affirmed, Agonized, Agreed, Alleged, Announced, Answered, Appealed, Arranged, Articulated, Asked, Asserted, Asseverated, Assumed, Assured, Attracted, Avered, Avowed
- Babbled, Barked, Bawled, Beamed, Beckoned, Began, Begged, Bellowed, Beseeched, Blubbered, Blurted, Bossed, Bragged, Breathed, Broadcasted, Burst
- Cajoled, Called, Carped, Cautioned, Censured, Cheered, Chimed in, Choked, Chortled, Chuckled, Circulated, Claimed, Comforted, Commented, Conceded, Concluded, Concurred, Condemned, Conferred, Confessed, Confided, Confirmed, Consoled, Contended, Continued, Cried out, Criticized, Croaked, Crooned, Crowed
- Declared, Decided, Defended, Demanded, Denoted, Dictated, Disclosed, Disposed, Disseminated, Distributed, Divulged, Doubted, Drawled
- Echoed, Emitted, Empathized, Encouraged, Ended, Entreated, Exacted, Exclaimed

  Explained, Exposed
- Faltered, Finished, Fretted, Fumed
- Gawped, Giggled, Glowered, Grieved, Grinned, Groaned, Growled, Grumbled, Grunted, Guessed
- Held, Hesitated, Hinted, Hissed, Hollered, Howled, Hypothesized
- Imparted, Imitated, Implied, Implored, Importuned, Inclined, Indicated, Informed, Inquired, Insisted, Interjected, Invited
- Jabbered, Jested, Joked, Justified
- Keened
- Lamented, Laughed, Leered, Lied, Lilted
- Maintained, Made known, Made public, Marked, Mewled, Mimicked, Moaned, Mocked, Mourned, Mumbled, Murmured, Mused
- Nagged, Necessitated, Noted
- Observed, Offered, Ordered
- Panted, Passed on, Pleaded, Pointed out, Pondered, Postulated, Praised, Preached, Premised, Presented, Presupposed, Probed, Proclaimed, Prodded, Professed, Proffered, Promised, Promulgated, Proposed, Protested, Provoked, Publicized, Published, Puled, Put forth, Put out
- Quaked, Queried, Questioned, Quipped, Quavered, Quizzed, Quoted
- Reassured, Raged, Ranted, Reckoned that, Rejoiced, Rejoined, Released, Remarked, Remonstrated, Repeated, Replied, Reported, Reprimanded, Requested, Required, Requisitioned, Retorted, Revealed, Roared
- Said, Sang, Scoffed, Scolded, Screamed, Seethed, Sent on, Settled, Shared, Shouted, Shrieked, Shrugged, Shuddered, Snapped, Snarled, Sniffled, Sniveled, Snorted, Sobbed, Solicited, Sought, Specified, Speculated, Spluttered, Spread, Squeaked, Stammered, Stated, Stuttered, Stressed, Suggested, Supposed, Swore
- Taunted, Teased, Testified, Thundered, Ticked off, Told, Told off, Touted, Trailed off, Transferred, Transmitted, Trembled, Trilled, Trumpeted
- Understood, Undertook, Upbraided, Urged, Uttered
- Verified, Vociferated, Voiced, Volunteered, Vouched for
- Wailed, Wanted, Warned, Wept, Went on, Wheedled, Whimpered, Whined, Whispered, Wondered
- Yawped, Yelled, Yelped, Yowled